Is there no limit to the AI cheating?!?

I have had to quit games so many times due to the AI cheating so badly. I could handle the ridiculously high production bonuses, but the rest of its BS cheating is the game breaker. How in the hell can the AI legion armies walk across water? I'm not kidding. It seems that if there is even one square outside your vision range, enemy armies and settlers begin teleporting there non-stop.

I have caught the AI cheating red-handed. I sailed past a single square that was surrounded by water and mountains, and somehow a legion army got there with no ship anywhere around. The very next turn, it somehow walked across 4 squares of water and was on my island.

I also witnessed 3 enemy cities just spring out of nowhere simultaneously on islands around my cruiser. The turn before, there was nothing there- no settlers, no ships. I sailed around to look for their ships (which they only had galleys at that point) and didn't find a single one.

Defend the game all you want, but this ridiculous type of cheating is game-breaking. Shame on you Sid Meier, you sick, twisted *******...

A lot happens when its not your turn and the computer speeds these actions up so your not stuck waiting forever. Just because you missed seeing the boat bring in settlers doesn't mean it did not happen.---Current addiction: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

I realize that, but what the AI is doing is impossible without cheating. In these instances, there is no way a ship could get to some locations without sailing right next to me, or magically appearing behind a naval blockade. There aren't even any ships around. The AI is simply teleporting or spawning units in impossible locations. I'll even reload from the turns before to see where they are coming from and find no trace of them.

It is blatant cheating. If you move your forces to try to counter the AI cheating, it simply makes them spawn on another shaded square on the opposite side of my island. They appear out of nowhere, in impossible to reach locations. This is what really ruins the game.

There's definite cheating on Emperor and Deity. The cheating isn't as bad on King and below, though.

Honestly, what annoys me most about the cheating isn't the cheating itself. I don't mind giving the AI advantages to compensate for its poorer strategic ability, particularly on higher difficulty levels. I mind giving the AI unspecified and dynamic advantages.

If the game just flat out said things like "On Emperor, all enemy civilization have a +50% bonus to trade" or "On Deity, enemy cities have a 100% boost to production and population growth," then I could adjust my tactics accordingly. It's the randomness and uncertainty of the boosts that I find so aggravating.

I agree with darkfire, in that the A.I. advantages seem to be dynamic and unspecified. If the resource bonuses aren't enough to beat me, the A.I. just starts blatantly cheating. If it can't get past my blockades, it just starts spawning units by my cities. I can be way ahead in tech, and all of a sudden an enemy civ will research a new tech first, like one turn before I am supposed to get it. Somehow it is able to research all the required techs before it all at once, too. As soon as I sent a spy to steal a great person from an English city early on, an enemy spy magically appears in the city and kills mine, and they hadn't even researched alphabet yet! An A.I. city with a population of two can somehow build a great wonder in just a few turns, while making combat units at the same time. The list goes on...

It Seems the A.I. can pretty much do what it wants, defying any rules of the game. This is NOT a good thing for a strategy game. It takes all the strategy out of it. For those who enjoy the cheating and consider it a "challenge" because the A.I. is too dumb to play fair, good for you. Keep defending it. I find it annoying and game breaking...

I've had the mongols assault my island cities with CRUISERS dropping off endless Legion units and demanding NAVIGATION for peace.

Democracy usually hurts you more than helps you. The AI takes full advantage of the culture decrease and builds Great Wonders like crazy. Should you be close to dealing them a crushing blow, they'll just sue for peace. Nevermind they'll keep up with you in tech in case you somehow despite skipping critical ones. It's funny how I could be the first person to discover writing in the 17th century and 3 turns later the AI has a SPY ARMY in their city.

The AI with TANK ARMIES demanding the secret to FEUDALISM

I've seen Mongol cities the size of 1 pumping out 2 great wonders within the span of 10 turns.

I've seen airplane units casually fly past fortified soliders only to attack a city with a lone unit.

A single square of fog in the middle of my territory? Here comes the Knights Army!!!

In rare cases where you are just destroying them, the AI WILL ALWAYS have riflemen around the time you have combustion. Always. It doesn't matter if they lack a bunch of other techs.

Towns literally spawning form NOWHERE. Several times I've ended a turn and watched a city appear out of nowhere on some lone island one of my units was fortified on.

I especially like it when the AI uses their superior build to culture flip any close cities when at peace. It's hilarious because when I start commissioning settler units to drain the city, I usually end up either gaining land back or not losing the city. Speaking of which, it's also hilarious how when you take over a city through a great person you see a ton of units parked outside of it, as if they knew it was gonna happen.

Then there is the obvious "mind reading" exploits the AI always does. Your building alot of offensive units fast? They'll usually leave you alone. Building defensive units to guard citites building Great wonders? They're gonna throw everything at you, and once they're done, another Civ is gonna come in and hammer you. Buildng a bomber? Here comes a fighter jet to destroy it right as it spawns!

The AI works as a team. Seriously. They barely attack each other and often make their moves based around your weak points. To the AI, the other civs are working a team. Somtimes they don't get along, but they are all out for the same goal: making your life hell. I especially hate it when a civ is close to a victory. The other civs will stop attacking you but they won't actually ATTACK the winning civ! (unless you pay them, in which case it'll only be 5 turns).

Watch what happens when you switch to democracy, the AI will ALWAYS keep up tech wise somehow and build Great Wonders like crazy (to take advantage of the culture decrease) they'll also assault you with an endless amount of units. One Civ whom you probably will forget about is meanwhile quietly either become a cultural monster or gonna be sending rockets to space in the 16th century. I always end up regretting using democracy because it annoys me to no end and I have to mention it twice.

The list goes on and on. Not to mention that the AI rarely attacks each other, and if they do will make peace within a few turns. They often just take turns ganging up on you in laughable ways.

Sorry for the rant, I love this game but it would be sooooo much better if the AI was smart and cunning instead of taking advantage of exploits a human can't possibly do.

---My steel has been tainted by the blood of a weakling!"Goku would win because Gohan is stronger."

He rejoined the game (Wow, kudos to the devs for allowing dropped players to rejoin).

After the AI controlled his civ for one turn, he had SEVEN more cities, most of which were on islands, no ships that could have ferried settlers to said islands, nor any decrease in pop from having made settlers.---inb4sig